Discover the recommendations of the Fundéu RAE to improve writing. (GlobeLiveMedia/Jovani Perez)

In a world ruled by immediacy, it would seem that spelling has ceased to matter, however, writing coherent and error-free texts it will always bring benefits in all areas.

At work, writing well lets others see the skills and knowledge you possess; Moreover, it helps build an optimal image through which you can appear as a serious and trustworthy person. Having spelling and syntax errors can create a negative image that makes you appear careless or unprepared.

On the other hand, having the ability to write a well-written text also speaks of personality, showing interest in always building a good bridge of communication with the interlocutors.

Although writing well is not an easy task, it requires a lot of practice and knowledge of language structures, so reading can be an excellent support for richness of our vocabulary.

In this sense, the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) It has become the most relevant institution for linguistic regularization, through the promulgation of norms aimed at promoting the linguistic unity of the Spanish-speaking world.

There Urgent Spanish Foundation (Fundéu)in fusion with the RAE, constantly issues various recommendations through its website with the aim of ensuring the correct use of the Spanish language.

‘Capture’ and ‘capture’ are not the same

Find out why the words
“Capture” and “capture” should not be used as synonyms. (GlobeLiveMedia file)

The verbs capture and capture they don’t have the same meaningit is therefore not appropriate to use them as synonyms.

It is common to see in the media phrases such as “The current international situation makes it possible to raise funds for infrastructure”, “The series has managed to capture the attention and affection of young audiences” or “The decoys used by cults to capture followers”.

According to Spanish language dictionary, capture is “to apprehend, seize someone or something” and “to capture or take someone prisoner, especially a criminal”while to capture means, in this context, “to attract, obtain or obtain benevolence, esteem, attention, sympathy, etc. (in addition to “attract someone”).

In view of these definitions, the relevant thing in the initial examples would have been to use the verb to capture: “The current international situation makes it possible to attract funds for infrastructure”, “The series has managed to capture the attention and the affection of young audiences” and “The decoys that cults use to attract followers.

On the other hand, in the computer jargon and related to files, texts or images, Use of the verb capture is permitted as a synonym for capturing, copying, hashing, or transferring data from one application to another.

What is the role of the RAE?

The Royal Academy of the Spanish Language clarifies our doubts about writing
The Royal Spanish Academy clarifies doubts about the writing. (GlobeLiveMedia file)

Founded in Madrid in 1713 on the initiative of the eighth Marquess of Villena, Juan Manuel Fernández Pacheco y Zúñiga, the RAE is the institution that seeks to preserve the proper use and unity of a language in permanent evolution and expansion.

Its most recent statutes (updated in 1993) establish that the principal function of the Royal Academy is “to ensure that the Spanish language, in its continuous adaptation to the needs of the speakers, does not break its essential unity”.

This commitment has materialized in the so-called Pan-Hispanic language policy, shared with the other 22 companies which are part of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language (ASALE), created in Mexico in 1951.

The establishment currently consists of 46 academicsincluding the Director and other Board positions, elected for temporary terms.

One of the criticisms that have been made of the RAE is its refusal to recognize words or expressions that have emerged among younger generations, in particular due to the appearance of social networks. One of the controversial the most recent is inclusive linguistic recognition.

However, in 2020, it chose to launch the Word Observatory, a digital repository that offers information about words or meaning of words and expressions that do not appear in the Diccionario de la Lengua Española (DLE), but which have raised doubts about their use, such as neologisms, foreign words, technical terms, regionalisms, among others.

The information contained in the Observatory is provisional because it is not included in academic work, so it can be modified and evolve over time, but this does not imply that its use is accepted.

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